. right now on "nbc bay area news tonight," another maintenance issue on a united flight at sfo. this comes on the same day the ceo of united airlines is trying to ease customers' fears about safety. also, it's the dreamforce of the south bay. long lines and celebrity

sightings at nvidia's big conference in downtown san jose. we'll tell you who was there and how this event got so popular. may be too high still. i'm hoping it's going to go down. >> the price of gas on the rise again. we're talking to aaa about what's behind this latest spike. whoo! >> so how long does it take to ride all 50 b.a.r.t. stations? a group of uc berkeley grad students just tried to break the world record. we'll find out why they tried to do this. good evening. i'm raj mathai. we have some breaking news from the giants, and it's not related to ra knell. that story in just a moment. but we want to start in san francisco. tonight friends and neighbors are gathering in west portal at the site of this deadly crash site over the weekend. three family members were killed, including a child. tonight a public memorial.

people standing silently at that crash site, laying flowers, saying a lot of prayers. the driver who plowed into a bus stop where the victims were is now facing felony vehicular manslaughter charges. the crash happened saturday. a white mercedes-benz suv came careening onto the sidewalk, first smashing into the wall of the library and then the covered bus shelter. the brazilian consulate has confirmed one of the adult victims is a brazilian national named hamed diego. they wouldn't release any details about his family, who were the others killed. the driver a 78-year-old woman named mary fong lao of san francisco. safety advocates say this is a tragedy for the family and the entire city. >> this is a neighborhood that uses transit. this is what we're asking for in transit for our city. so the fact this happened is just devastating. it's crushing. >> according to the sheriff's department, the woman charged in

the crash is in custody at a local hospital. also tonight, it's gone from bad to worse. another mechanical problem on a united flight. this is the eighth maintenance issue that we know about involving an sfo united flight in the past two weeks. it comes the same day as united's ceo sent out an email trying to reassure his customers. here's what we know. the flight was about to leave sfo for japan when the plane experienced a mechanical issue. the jet then returned to the gate while the maintenance team could check it out. the flight was delayed for about five hours. it finally took off about two hours ago. now, a string of problems started about two weeks ago when that tire fell off a united flight during takeoff from sfo. you see the spot shot there. that tire came crashing down onto some cars at an employee lot at sfo. since then, the airline has experienced one problem after another. the ceo, scott kirby, issuing a

statement today saying the incidents are unrelated. his email said in part, safety is our highest priority and is at the center of everything we do. unfortunately, in the past few weeks, our airline has experienced a number of incidents that are reminders of the importance of safety. he went on to say, united is working with employees on its safety procedures while the faa is investigating all these various mishaps. let's get to our breaking news now. an eventful and emotional day for the giants. about 30 minutes ago, they agreed to a big money deal with star pitcher blake snell. a source confirms to nbc sports bay area that snell has agreed to a two-year deal with the giants worth 62 million bucks. snell is a two-time cy young winner. he comes over from the rays and padres. this deal gives the giants the most accomplished starting pitcher on the market this off-season. so what a range of emotions for

the giants fans, upset about ra knell to start the day. now this news about blake snell. the giants still getting a lot of heat for parting ways with their popular p.a. announcer. >> first baseman, number 9, brandon bell. >> she is giants baseball when you're inside that ballpark. longtime public address announcer ra knell brooks-moon was unceremoniously let go. no news conference, just a news release today saying the team could not come to terms on a new contract. 24 years behind that microphone. she actually came to the ballpark when it opened. in a statement, renel says, representation matters. it's my great hope that i inspired little girls, young women, and people of color to pursue those dreams, even if those dreams seem impossible because impossible dreams can come true. the giants posting this thank you note and photos of renel on

twitter today. no word on who might replace her. let's move on. it's kind of like the dreamforce of the south bay. silicon valley is getting a big boost thanks to one of the world's hottest a.i. companies. for the first time since the ic nvidia is hosting the gtc conference in person. so far, huge crowds. you're looking at the line just to get inside the s.a.p. center where nvidia's ceo, jensen huang, introduced the company's new technology. >> there is something going on. the industry is being transformed. not just ours because the computer industry, the computer, is the single most important instrument of society today. fundamental transformations in computing affects every industry. >> he is the new rock star of the silicon valley. the conference bringing out some big names to the silicon valley. we spotted george lucas, kendrick lamar, trevor noah,

ashton kutcher, and a lot of other vips from around the world. let's bring in our vip, business and tech reporter scott budman. that's a laundry list of celebrities here all to come in and watch nvidia. this guy is making a lot of people a lot of money. >> chip companies have come a long way in a short time from people dressed up in bunny suits, completely anonymous, and now kendrick lamar and na sarks showing up for a tech keynote. >> when did this become all of a sudden the rock star of a.i.? >> it's because a.i. is so hot right now, and there's really nowhere else to invest. microsoft, which is now, by the way, passing apple as the number one most valuable company, they have a stake in a.i. you can buy stock in microsoft. you can buy stock in nvidia. they have gained a trillion dollars in less than three months simply because they are the a.i. stock play, and everybody wants into a.i. right now. so people are getting hired and doing work with start-ups, but you can't invest in them yet

unless you're a venture capitalist. >> we just heard from the ceo. he obviously -- are we along the lines of a marc benioff and a steve jobs? >> he's been respected for a long time. i've known him for a long time. good guy, et cetera. but because of all this wealth creation, and you saw the respect today. downtown san jose was packed with techies who want a piece of this. i would say he's now on that level of respect. >> when you say packed, how many days is this conference, and you've been in that shark tank for many years. how full was it in there? >> it was packed. as much as a full sold-out sharks game or rock concert to hear a keynote from a ceo of a chip company. it's really unheard of but very impressive. there were tens of thousands of people that signed up to be in downtown san jose for this convention. it lasts a few more days, and

it's really exciting to see so many people get excited about a technology in silicon valley and to see this company get its due as really one of the rock stars of the industry. >> so last question. if i threw $1,000 down on nvidia two years, i would be a pretty rich man. >> this company is up some 2,000% in a year. >> don't tell me that stuff. thank you, scott. >> you bet. >> appreciate it. let's move on now. let's talk about gas prices. what's behind the spike? yep, gas prices are on the rise again. you may have noticed prices going up over the last couple of weeks. aaa says it's up a quarter compared to just a month ago, putting the average cost per gallon in california at nearly $5. nationally it's about $3.50 a gallon. of course in the bay area it's always higher. what's behind the spike? joining us is john trainor from aaa. nice to have you on the program. what's happening? it seems like, okay, the sunshine's out. it's about to be spring, and then the prices go up.

any correlation? >> that's the formula, right? it's nicer weather. more people are driving. you start getting more people at the pump. you see the prices start to rise. we're seeing supply and demand kind of happen in front of our eyes. this is really a seasonal thing, and as the warm weather continues, we get the summer blend coming in, prices are probably going to increase too. >> is there a rationale behind this, or is this just the company is trying to make more money? >> there's a few things happening right now. one, globally, the price of a barrel of oil is up over $80 a barrel. when you're paying at the pump, about half of what you're paying for is that crude oil price. whenever those prices go up, you pay more. but what we see is this seasonal increase. demand goes up. at the same time, oil refineries haven't been making as much gas. supply is down. you start seeing that crossover, right, where the supply has been low because demand has been low all winter. demand typically picks up before supply does, and then you start

seeing prices go up. >> john, i get it that california has higher gas prices than most of the rest of the country because we have different taxes here and so forth. but why does the bay area have higher prices than the rest of california? >> you know, it's a good yes. you know, not only is it because of taxes, but it's also because of environmental regulations. you have to meet certain regulations that other states don't have to meet which means the price of refining oil gets to be a little bit more expensive in the bay area. a lot of this has to do with population, tourism, the amount of money that -- or the amount of people that are going to be buying gasoline. the other thing is transporting fuel to gas stations. whenever you look at gas stations in an area, you wonder why one is so expensive, and 20 miles up the street, a different price. a lot of that is competition. a lot of that is going to be demand they see, how quickly they're moving gasoline. >> final question for you. if i talk to you a month from

now or two months from now, are we going to be even higher than where we are right now? >> once that summer blend hits, that's typically closer to memorial day, you're going to see prices go up. it's a more expensive form of gasoline. that's environmental regulations right there countrywide. as long as the weather stays nice and people are hitting the streets, you probably won't be talking to me about a decrease. >> always appreciate your time, john. >> have a good one. up next, no ordinary game for the warriors tonight. it's all about women. also, why did a group of uc berkeley grad students race to ride all 50 b.a.r.t. stations? the big question is why? they're going to join us next. they're going to join us next. yore watching "nbc bay au're

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welcome back to "nbc bay area news tonight." we've got some lineup changes for the warriors, not the players but the broadcasters. how about this tonight? for the first time ever, seven female sportscasters are at the microphone calling the game and doing the pre and postgame shows. >> you're seeing this exposure and how important that is for women to see themselves in roles in sports within the organizations all up and down here on television. >> this is nbc sports bay bay area laura britt right there. they're all hosting the pre and postgame shows tonight along

with kerith burke. the game announcers include a's play by play announcer jenny cavner. >> there's a lot of work to do in our society when it comes to equity and equality for women, whether we're talking about equal pay or health care. so if anything, i hope that today shines a light on the value of women and how necessary it is for us to pay attention to the topics and the challenges that are specifically facing women in today's society. >> warriors take on the knicks tonight at chase center. tonight's broadcast is in celebration of women's empowerment month and the wnba expansion team coming to the bay area next year. that's also part of it. it's an all-female crew. we like that. here's something else catching our attention. some graduate students at uc berkeley may have broken a world

record. they're actually waiting to hear back from guinness, the people who monitor the world records. the students rode to all 50 b.a.r.t. stations in five hours and 47 minutes. they're part of the transportation graduate students organizing committee. they started planning this world record-breaking attempt last october and finally did it this month. the big question is why? before we get that answer, here's the route they used. they started at the antioch station, rode to richmond before crossing the bay, hitting up all the stops in san francisco and the peninsula. then finished their journey by going under the bay in the transbay tube, riding the rest of the east bay stations and finishing down in san jose. joining us tonight, two of the five students who made this journey. jacob chaplain and aminute.

>> why not? we're a transportation group. we love public transit, and paul, which is one of the main people who is organizing the whole event, had this main idea of creating this world record event and, you know, applying to the guinness world records. so we applied using the $5 application fee, and that's kind of how it went from there. >> i'm seeing the video here. you guys are racing around like it's the great race. did you have sandwiches and drinks, or was it all business all the time? >> oh, i mean, there was a lot of logistics that went behind this, you know. there was requirements of proof from guinness. so we had to take photos at every station. we had to have witnesses at different points through our journey in order to say, yes, we were there. we weren't faking this entire thing. of course, snacks, drinks, and bathrooms are all very important parts we had to take into consideration. jacob and i actually went to a couple of the stations a few days previous before we started our attempt in order to scout out which ones had bathrooms.

where could we go if something needed to happen. >> jacob, what did your parents and friends say when you told them you were doing this. >> i think they were mostly confused. but afterwards, i think they thought it was a really cool idea, just the idea of going around the entire bay and just using all of the b.a.r.t. systems, i think was awesome. some of my friends who are more transit enthusiasts thought it was amazing as well. >> my first question, is there a record for this? is there already a record you're trying to break? >> currently there was a record before they built the dublin blue line. however, after they built this line, there's no current record. so we were officially setting this record. >> you put this on your resume when you're looking for jobs in a couple of years? >> yeah. this will be on the top of the list, yeah. >> amin, what's the logistics here? any problems that you ran into on this speed run? any hiccups?

>> yes, one of the things for guinness is they wanted as much video proof as possible. six hours of footage is a lot to try to record on your phone. so we ended up streaming it to youtube, mostly just to have a record to send there for proof if necessary. but people actually started watching the extreme, which was surprising because i wasn't sure who would want to watch us for six hours. people were watching the stream and interacting with us. it was a mixture of amazement and excitement. by the end, we had a sizeable community, especially after the lovely people at b.a.r.t., their social media team reached out to us and started interacting with us throughout our journey. >> i want to see this at the top of your linkedin profile. when do you find out from guinness? and do you have some of the other guys and gals in the background there? >> yes, i do. i have other people here. they completed the world record. and, yeah, i'm sorry. could you repeat the last question.

>> when is it official from guinness? when do you get the certification? >> oh, paul, can you say -- i think it's about like four months. we're submitting our evidence now. we should be hearing in about four months, we think. >> oh, my gosh. invite us to that party when it's all official. gentlemen and ladies, thanks for joining us. have a good evening. >> thank you so much. >> have a good one. >> you got it. a live look at the bay bridge. jeff is going to join us with our forecast coming up. you can make money the hard way as a bullfighter or a human cannonball... or save money the easy way, with xfinity mobile. existing customers can get a free line of our most popular unlimited plan for a year! not only will you save hundreds but you'll also be joining millions who have connected to america's

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welcome back. as we kick off the workweek, jeff ranieri is with us talking about we had some great sunshine today. >> beautiful. >> over the weekend it was really nice as well. >> that was only the second weekend we've had since 2024 started for a lot of places with sunshine on the weekend. >> that's amazing. >> yeah, it was pretty epic. we've got more on the way as we roll through tomorrow with this area of high pressure. let's show you more details in that microclimate forecast. also when rainfall makes a return. right now we do have a beautiful sunset out here. but as we roll through tomorrow morning, temperatures in the 40s and we will see some areas of fog returning. be ready for that chance of fog as we head off on that morning commute. by the afternoon, sunshine is back. look at these numbers. we're up into the 70s again. 74 morgan hill. 72 san jose. low 70s livermore, concord, martinez, napa, and right up towards santa rosa.

still a cool ocean breeze, half moon bay to san francisco. we'll stay dry all the way through thursday's forecast with some on again, off again sunshine. then as we hit friday, our next storm system gets here. it looks like this one is going to linger from friday right through sunday's forecast. everybody gets a chance here of some rain. but three-day totals not extremely high but still decent. a quarter to about 1 1/4 inches. sierra snow, 1 to 3 feet. let me get you a better view of those rain totals. by friday, it's a quarter to a half inch. i think we have that better bet of a half inch up to the north bay, some of the hills of the east bay. saturday we'd been in for a quarter to three-quarters of an inch. then things should start to taper down on sunday with trace amounts to a quarter of an inch. on the seven-day forecast, we'll stay dry all the way through thursday. that rain coming in friday, saturday, and sunday. then next monday, we dry out. but get this, raj. we could be in for additional storms for next week. so soak up that sun right now.

>> it is the spring at least this week, right? >> exactly right. >> thank you, jeff. as we wrap up, mario lopez just getting started with "access hollywood." >> tonight on "access," the where is princess kate and is she okay drama takes on yet another twist. this weekend, a very happy and healthy kate was reportedly seen walking with william at a market near windsor. but with no official word from the palace, we're taking a look at the fallout the palace is experiencing today. then we've got quite a few "access" exclusives for you, beginning with our vanessa hudgens interview, the first since revealing her pregnancy at the oscars. plus katy perry and orlando bloom are co-starring together. that's all just moments away on "access hollywood." back to you. coming up in prime time here on nbc bay area. at 8:00, an all new episode of "the voice." that's followed by "deal or no deal island" at 10:00. then we are back at 11:00 for

our 11:00 news live and local. that's going to do it for us here at 7:00. for everyone here at nbc bay area, including our chief photographer, robby beesom we hope you have a good evening. we hope to see you back at 11:00.

♪ tonight on "access hollywood." >> so wildly out of control. >> now you see her, now you don't? why kate's reported appearance this weekend has taken conspiracy theories next level. >> there is